Friction-clutch.



0. SBYBQLD. FRIGTON CLUTCH, APPLATION FILED HAYE, 1911.

iatented Dec. 17', 1912.

2 SHEETS-.SHEET 1.

C. SEYBGLD.

ERIGTION GLUTCH., AELIGATION FILED Mus, 1911.

Paented Das.

2 SHE ETS-SH .lil

CHARLES SEYBOLD, 0F DAYTON, OHIO.

FRICTION- CLUTCH.

integers.

y Specilcation of Letters Patent.

rammed nec. i7, raie.

Application filed May 8, 1911. Serial No. 625,812.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, CHARLES Snvnonn, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the cit-y of Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful l1nprovements in Friction-Clutches, of which the following is a full, clear, `and exact.dcsc1'i} tion, reference being had to the acctunpanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to friction clutches and friction couplings in which rotatable driving and driven members are provided,

with means for bringing the two members into ,frictional vengagement to couple the driving member to the shaft to be driven, and more particularly to such couplings and clutches in which the driven member. is tight on the shaft to be driven, with the driving member loose thereon, with means to cause frictional engagement of the driving member with the member to be driven. Such friction clutches are ordinarily subjected to `great and excessive wear, when not properly adjusted, and to maintain the proper clutch very frequent ad] ustment is required. lVhen the two i'nembers ofsuch a clutch engage properly the wear is of course reduced to a minimum, for while Ain engagement there is no wear on the friction surfaces. 'It is the slipping of the clutch caused by changes in load that subjects the clutch to its most excessive wear.

lt is the object of my invention to provide a construct-ion in which this liability of slippage with increase of load is avoided, and with which the frictional engagen'lent of the parts is automatically enhanced as the load is increased.

I have illustrated my invention with particular reference to a type of friction clutch in which a split ring on one member is eX- panded within a hub band on 'the other member' to enforce the frictional engagement ofthe driving and the driven mechanism, but it will be understooi'l that my invention is equally applicable to other forms of friction clutches and that many modilications ofthe particular construction illustrated may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, as hereinafterset forth and claimed, which in its essentials consists of means for driving the driving member of the clutch which, as the load increases, shall shift the driving member into l l l l closer and 'more powerful frictional contact with the driven member.

ln the drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of my improved friction clutch. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of same, partly in section. Fig. o is a front elevation of the split ring or driven member of the clutch. Fig. fl: is a central vertical section ofthe clutch constrimtion, as illustrated in Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a` transverse section through one of the attaching lugs, taken on the line 5, 5, of Fig. l. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the lever for expanding the split ring. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of the driving wedges for the driving member of the clutch.

In the drawings l have illustrated my invention with the clutch applied for connecting the driving power to the driving shaft of the machine in which the driving pulley and fly wheel are loosely mounted on the driving shaft of the machine, and the friction clutch is applied between the liy wheel and pulley and the driving sha'ft .to drive the machine mechanism when the clutch is thrown into action.

In this construction, l is the drivingr shaft of the machine upon which is loosely mounted thely wheel, only the spokes 2 of which are shown, and the portion of the section of the rim of the driving pulley connected with the fly wheel is indicated at 3.

Keyed to the driving shaft l of the machine is a split ringor expansion band 4, provided with an integral hub portion 5, by means of which it is keyed on the shaft. Mounted on the pin- G, projecting from an extension 7' of the hub portion of the expazr' sion band, is a lever 8 formed with the block 9, which is fitted between the ends l0 of the expansion band, so that the rocking of this lever The inwardly extending arm of this lever is provided with a head l1, in which is mounted a set screw 12, which projects into a recess 13 in theA hub 5 of the band, and this pin is arranged to be engaged by a beveled pin 14. projecting inwardly from the face of a sliding collar l5 mounted onthc sleeve 2G of the hub 5 of the expansion band`r and arranged to be shifted in the ordinary way by a starting lever, the bifurcated end of which engages within the groove lo in the sliding collar, so that the shifting` of the sliding collar will rock the lever 8 and expand the band t. rl'his band is expanded on the pin 6 will expand the band. n

turn secured to the fly wheel, so that by the yexpansion of the band d, Aa clutch will be formed between the driving parts and the parts of the machine to bedriven.'

In the older constructions, the rim within which the split ring is'expanded has either been an integral part o'f the driving wheel, or when loosely mounted thereon, as shown in my prior, patents 667,798, of February 12, 1901, and 757,236, of Apri-l 12, 19051, no provision was made'to allow thev rim and split ring to shift laterally with reference to each otherto ail'ect'the frictional ,engagement of the parts. y

In my present construction, the rim 17 is secured tothe spokes of the fly wheel by screw studs 18, which are passed through apertures 19 in the projecting lugs 20 of the rim 17, and are screwed into the spokes.

. Three of these lugs symmetrically disposed slotted slightly in the direction of the periphery of the rim, in order to permit someV movement between the studs and the rim' as hereinafter described.

Interpos'ed between the lugs 20 and the attaching surface of the driving wheel, I arrange for each -lug a wedge' plate 2l,

through which the stud passes, and the lugs on their contacting faces are provided with correspondingly wedge shaped .or'beveled recesses 22, to receive these wedges. In order that the surfaces of the wedges shall adjust themselves to the beveled surfaces of the lug recesses in the radial movement of th'e parts, the opening 23 in the wedge plates are slightly larger in diameter than the diameter of the stud, so that there is loose If the contacting wedged or,

ness of fit. beveled surfaces of the parts were cut on 'radial' lines, it would not be necessary to mount` the wedge plates 21 loosely onthe studs, and they could be an integral part of the driving wheel structure, or secured tightly/'on the stud; butinasmuch as for conyenience of manufacture, I prefer to cut these surfaces on parallel lines, I mount them loosely, as described.

Interposed between the heads of the studs 18.- and the lugs 20, is a coiled spring 24, which tends to hold the rim 17"against the surface of the driving wheel. y

The contacting surface of the splitl ring l is formed slightly cone shaped/as indicated at 25 in Fig. ,and a corresponding sur;-

face of the rim 17 is also formed withv a cone surface, so that the split ring'and lthe rim'have a conical t, and any movement clutch correspondingly prolonged.

ofthe riml 17 toward the'v split ning on an 'axial line will tend to additionally tighten the two parts over the frictional, contactpbtained by expanding the ring within the that sufficient expansion will be had for the ring to. frictionally engage` the rim and clutch thev parts together for the `coupling up of ythe shaft 1 'with the driving power, without load. Under these. cifcumstances, the clutch connection .will be made inl the usual Way, .The moment the load is applied to the shaft 1 and through it to the expanf` sion ring and rim' 17, this will tend to retard the rotary ,movvementof the rim, whilethe driving wheel is running -at its full speed. Inasmuch as the connection between the rimA and the driving wheel is 'made through the studs and the studs have a slightslotted engagement with the,lugs on the rim, under the above conditions the wedges 2l will bear on the .beveled faces of the recesses in their respective lugs,l and this' action will cause the rim 17 to move away from the face of the driving wheel, and the rim 1.7 `and split ring 4. will be forced together, and as the engagement surfaces are Iconey shaped, this will tighten automatically the frictional engagement between thetwo `clutch members.

With this construction, the operation will... be as follows: Let'the parts beadjusted'so .It will be evident that the heavier the` faces be driven together, so that the 'clutch will automatically adjust itself to any load applied.V In. this way, when the clutch is once adj usted for a free running connection, the clutch automatically tightens as the load is applied, so that slippage isl reduced to a minimum, and conse uently the wearA is correspondingly reduce and the life of the As previously stated, it will be evident that my construction can' be applied to van rious forms of frictionA clutches and that the details of theconstruction can be very materially changed Without departing from the spirit of my invention. It will also be evident that either member `of the clutch may, in any instance, comprise the driven me-m- I wheel, or the parts are'arranged with the y wheel or driving member.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letg ters Patent, is

1. Inv a frictlon clutch, a rotary driving member and' 'a rotarydriven member, said lmembers comprising a rim band and an expansion ring, with means for expanding the ring to cause frictional engagement, with cone-shaped contacting surfaces for the band andthe ring, with-means interposed between the driving member and the driving power, to cause the driving member to shift ,on its axis of rotation to automatically force the two members into closer engagement-with the retard of the driven member upon an increase of load.

' 2. In a friction clutch, a rotary driving member and a rotary driven member, said members comprising a rim band and an expansion ring respectively, with cone shaped contacting surfaces for frictional engagement, with bevel contact devices interposed between the driving member and the driving power to cause the driving member to shift on its axis of rotation to automatically force the two members into closer engagement with the retard of the driven member upon an increasof load.

3. In a friction clutch, a rotary driving member and a rotary driven member, said members comprising a rim band and an expansion ring respectively, with cone shaped contacting surfaces for fr-ictional engagement, a driving wheel with means for connecting the driving wheel to thev driving member, with wedges attached to the driving wheel, and beveled recesses in the rim band for engagement with the Wedges, whereby with the retard of the expansion ring the rim band will be shifted longitudiment, a driving wheel to which the rim band is loosely secured, with wedges attached t-o l t-he driving wheel, and beveled recesses in the rim band for engagement with the wedges, whereby yupon yincrease of load, to retard the rotation of .the expansion ring,

the wedges will shift the rim band into closer engagement with the expansion ring.

5. In a friction clutch, a rotary driving member and a rotary driven member, said members comprising a rim band and an expansion ring respectively, a driving wheel to which the rimpband is loosely secured, with wedges attached to the driving wheel, and

beveled recesses in the rim band for engagement with the'l wedges, whereby upon increase of load to retard the movement of the expansion ring, the wedges will shift the rim band into closer engagement with the expansion ring, with springs to return the rim band to normal crease of the load.

CHARLE SEYBOLD'. A. Atte-st FRANK H. HnRBsr, O. A. STUHLDREHER.

position upon the deV 

